but now the political aspects, the corporate aspects, are getting very weird. we have contacted shell on these allegations, so far we have not heard back but will keep you poed. and we'll keep bugging them. . good thursday morning. right now on first look -- a public health emergency declared in parts of the country over the flu. joe biden versus the nra today at the white house. but could the president override everyone using executive orders for gun control? americans under 50 are dying earlier. new jersey governor christie's stock is rising among democrats, fighting against hurricane sandy, a despite plea to save these whales and is that lion in my neighborhood? good morning. health officials are calling the worse flu outbreak they have seen in decades.

at least 36 people are dead as the virus has spread to 40 states. boston is declared a public health emergency. they have had ten times of all last year's flu season. >> it has come back and rather fiercely. boston will offer free vaccinations this weekend inspect. in some areas, some schools are temporarily closing. experts warn that we haven't reached the peak. vice president biden's task nors aims at reducing gun violence, including the powerful nra, sources close to the talks say, expanding background checks for gun purchases. yesterday the vice president met with victims groups vowing that

the administration is determined to take quote, immediate action. >> i want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion, unless we can do everything we're going to do nothing. it's critically important we act. >> south carolina congressman jeff duncan fired back at the white house yesterday releasing a statement, saying quote, the founding fathers never envisions executives orders being used to restrict our constitution rights. governor cuomo yesterday on the state of the state. >> no one hunts with an assault rivals. no one needs ten bullets to kill a deer. >> one of the most controversial portions of the debate over gun safety involves whether or not schoolteachers should be armed.

ed schultz asked one teacher why she felt compelled to purchase a gun after the newtown school shooting. >> i want to have options for that situation. i think the world is changing. it's -- it's not safe and we see these kinds of situations happen over and over and i -- when i first heard, i thought, wow, i wish i could have a gun, because i didn't know i could. and after i heard about the training and the course i learned that i could, i thought, you know what, this is something that i want to learn about. >> be sure to watch the ed show weeknights at 8:00 eastern right here on msnbc. according to a new health study americans under 50 live shorter and unhealthier lives, researchers found health in the u.s. lag behind 16 other nations

includes those in europe, canada and japan. americans die younger from obesity and other diseases and are more likely to be murdered or killed in a car crash. however, the u.s. fares better with cancer rates. in colorado the preliminary hearing for aurora movie theater shooter james holmes has ended. on wednesday, prosecutors presented some disturbing images of holmes that he took just before the shooting. nbc's leann gregg reports from centennial. >> reporter: the defense team bowed out from presenting evidence. the abrupt ending to the hearing comes after three days after compelling prosecution evidence. cell phone pictures that holmes took of himself before the

shootings. smiling with a muzzle of a glock handgun in the frame. >> he looked very, just evil and he just sat in the courtroom pretty much delighted. >> reporter: evidence of the horrifying moments from the 911 cull when 30 gunshots could be heard during the call. they outlined how holmes spent weeks preparing for the attack. now, the next step in the legal process, a trial with a possibility of the death penalty or a plea deal that would save the cost of a trial and avoid the grief of family members reliving the horrifying events again. now to a developing story north of or borders. residents in northern canada are

pleaing for outside help. right now the mammals are gathered around a single hole in the ice, the village is asking the government to send an ice breaker quickly. and now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. new jersey governor christie is not happy with the image of himself on the cover of time magazine saying it made him look like a mob boss. polls show that christie's handling of superstorm sandy has made him popular with democrats than republicans. white house chief of staff jack lew will be nominated to replace treasury secretary timothy gooeithner.

those expected to stay on for the second term incruding attorney general eric holder. kathleen sebelius, arne duncan and a few others. jack lew's signature which looks like a series of loops will be featured on american money, that looks like fun. the french wine lobby in the u.s. is upset about part of the menu at the president's inauguration, because it didn't come from the champagne region of france, they complain the bottles of the inaugural wine should not be called sham pine according to american law. beyonce will sing the national anthem at the ceremony. james taylor will be singing "america the beautiful." walmart which else is the most guns in the u.s., wasn't planning on sending anyone to

the meeting at the white house. now a company spokesman said, quote, we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person so we're sending someone to represent. john kerry joked that his cure for jet lag is listening to one of his speeches. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." now a look at the weather we turn to dylan dreyer. we're in the middle of a january thaw here. temperatures above average. we have a lot of rain and even some strong storms to talk about down in the gulf coast. you can see the rain streaming up off the gulf of mexico. yesterday, it was across eastern texas where we picked up 2 to 3 inches of rain, that's expected

across portions of eastern arkansas, western tennessee, western mississippi and right down into louisiana as well. this is an area of low pressure which is also bringing that rain back into northern texas. it's all rain right now. we're done with the snow as warmer air tries to work into this system. this heavy rain is coming in the form of very strong thunderstorms. we have a lot of cloud to ground lightning. an area where we could see some isolated tornadoes as well. it will start to push eastward. but it's a slow process. over the next 48 hours, this area in lower and orange here, from arkansas down to louisiana, could end up to 3 to 4 inches of rain. out ahead of this system, it looks temperatures will be 15 to 20 degrees above normal. that includes new york city as well. mara? >> thanks so much, dylan.

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welcome back. here's some stories making news this morning -- secretary of state hillary clinton is scheduled to meet today with the president of afghanistan hamid karzai, they're expected to discuss peace talks with the taliban and future u.s. troops before karzai sits down with the president on friday. a disturbing story out of russia, what was supposed to be an enjoyable adventure took a tragic turn, as a giant inflatable zorb ball with two men inside veered off course, one man was killed and the other is in serious condition. off the coast of australia, a man lost control of his boat, fell out and was swimming around nearby while the boat was spinning in circle.

a police craft was finally able to rescue the boater and he is reportedly doing well. and the huge doomsday asteroid made a fly-by of the u.s. last night, it's more than 1,000 feet wide and could actually hit the earth in the year 2036. now for a look at wall street, the dow opened the day at 13,390 after gaining 61 points on wednesday. overseas the nikkei rose 74. earnings optimism returned to the street wednesday. today, we'll see how investors react to the latest data. holiday retail sales and earnings from oil giant chevron. appled closed above 700 while facebook was spiraling fast. now facebook is nasdaq's best performing stock while apple is down. aig is now thanking america

instead of suing it. opting not to join the suit over the terms of its rescue package. after the housing market collapsed, they're laying down new rules for lending practices. meanwhile, layoffs are looming at morgan stanley for some 1600 jobs. boeing is plague down a string of mishaps this week, saying quote, it has extreatment confidence in its dreamliner. starbucks' survey found that 1 in 4 have purchased the new cups. overseas bargain hunters climbed into french stores

hunting for sales. it's an end of an era for one of monopoly token. finally, an organic nonalcoholic drink for dogs. mark cuban slapped by the nba, the lion dog that sparked calls to 911 and jimmy beats dave. the latest on what called this commuter ferry accident and also this crane collapse. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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streets into a drag strip. a female suspect led authorities on a high-speed chase for 30 minutes before they made their arrest. an uninvited guest living under her home. heating repairman discovered beer cans in the crawl space that the stranger may have been living in for nearly a year. a virginia dog triggered panicked when passing drivers spotted the pooch running near the norfolk zoo. >> i'm driving down granby street and there's a lion that ran across the street. a baby lion. >> emergency operators were flooded with calls about the animal who was deliberately groomed to resemble old dominion

masc mascot. baseball home run king barry bonds got about 36% of the votes from the baseball writers association of america because of the performance enhancing drugs. sammy sosa got 12.5% and no other players had the required 75%. in the nba, cleveland's kyrie irving had a big night in the win. the thunder defeated the timberwolves 106-84. now the turned used to be the seattle supersonics until they moved to oklahoma city in 2008. now seattle might get another team, sacramento kings is close to being sold and moved to seattle next season. dallas mavericks billionaire owner mark cuban has been fine bd i the nba for a tweet on poor

officiate. he's paid an estimated $2 million in nba fines. and next month, a rare 148--year-old baseball card might bring about $100,000 at auction, it's an original 1865 photograph of the baseball club mounted on a card. it was found in a yard sale in maine. now for another check of the weather here's dylan dreyer. good morning, again. >> good morning to you. a nice january thaw across the east coast, temperatures already above average. 42 in boston and new york city. chilly, though, back up across minneapolis. look at our temperatures today. we'll go into the mid to upper 40s in the northeast. heavy rain likely across the gulf coast states. then, tomorrow, we're looking at temperatures to get back into the mid-60s in kansas city. new orleans, about 73 degrees

with most of the rain falling today. you could end up with about 2 to 3 inches of rain, then it will push east into atlanta. we could see a few late-day showers in the northeast, weakening at that point and clear out by the weekend. across the northeast, it looks like temperatures will be 15 to 20 degrees above average. that should stick around for saturday and sunday. >> i love it when you bring us good news. just ahead -- who won big at the people's choice awards and lindsay lohan accused of stealing jewelry again. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime.

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. today the president hosted a screening of nbc's white house comedy 1600 penn which centers on a goofy guy embarrassing the white house. or as joe biden said, why is everyone looking at me. they're promising special perks for donors who give at least $1 million. which is cool. you know what else could give you a lot of perks, keeping that $1 million. hunger games was the big winner last night at the people's choice awards. adam sandler won favorite comedic actor. beyonce is leaving little to the imagination on the cover of this month's "gq" magazine. the singer wearing a football

jersey will be performing at the super bowl halftime show next month. jimmy kimmel's move to 11:35 proved half-successful. david letterman was knocked down to third place. little league is being accused of stealing a bracelet that belonged to liz taylor. the bracelet now belongs to taylor's longtime nurse. short time later it disappeared from the nurse's house. jennifer lopez said her mental age is 18. she's currently dating a 25-year-old. i feel like i'm 19. so i understand that. it makes sense for her now to say that. it can work, absolutely. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned "way too early" starts right now.

♪ good morning. i'm bill karins and this "way too early." the show that sadly realizes we have no shot at the hall of fame due to my steroid use. we have a lot to talk about this morning, including another nomination for the cabinet that could have impact on the meeting. but first, le